Amazing! I love seeing the transformation from logs to lumber. The technique used to cut the logs is top-tier. I learned something new today about sawmilling. Excited for more sawmill-related content. Please keep sharing these awesome videos!
Quite a change from the sawmills I worked at during summers in the late 1950's to finance my college education! In this video, I kept looking for guys working on the green chain, the usual starting job back then, but--at least at the mill in this video--it's all automated. My first job was at a redwood mill, newly built and state-of-the-art at the time, near the Mendocino coast in northern California. No debarking machines in that era, just a couple of guys attacking each log with long, heavy steel bars (I can't remember, but the bars must have been either pointed or shaped and sharpened into blades at one end) before the log entered the mill. Inside the mill, there was a guy strapped to his seat on the carriage who took signs from the sawyer as to when and how much to rotate each log to get whatever they wanted out of it. Every subsequent operation, from edging to trimming to grading, required a qualified individual to make snap judgments (no laser lines back then!) on every single piece of lumber as it passed by them. Finally we grunts on the green chain had wrestle those wet, heavy boards (a fresh 2x12, 20' long, was a challenge!) off the conveyer (ie., the green chain). Fortunately, each link in the conveyer chain nearest each worker had a built-in roller which greatly facilitated our handling the lumber. We stacked the lumber, with stickers every 8 or 10 layers, onto heavy wooden blocks that were placed on the ground about 3 feet below the platform that we workers stood on. The blocks were designed for a tall, straddle-carrier to pick up and take away the pile once it reached a certain height. We sorted the lumber into different piles depending on grade and dimension, and each green chain worker was responsible for several piles.
After watching videos like this, and these boards still have finish milling to be completed, it amazes me that a 2 x 4 x 8 can sell for only 2 or 3 dollars. And this doesn't even show the man hours, fuel costs, etc. required to drop the trees and get this far. Incredible !!!!!!
It's because this mill is more automated than they used to be. At the end of this video where the "Board Sorter" is, there used to be a bunch of guys working on the Green Chain. They would have to pull and stack all the graded lumber as it came out onto the green chain. That job could be quite a hump buster at times. Looks like they've sorted that out now and only need machines, sawyers and millwrights. I hated that job anyway... but the pay was good.
@@kevinostberg1729 New Zealand has big logging trucks. Gross Combination Masses of around 150-tonne. ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-YIXoZzfBJK0.html,ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-VrE877Ut0nI.html&ab_channel=WillBishopTrucksNewZealand ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-TIYDVdO0tCQ.html -ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-juUb_ymW3PU.html&ab_channel=WoodleysNZ ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-vlVsWk5pQ0k.html New Zealand- Classic Chip Trucking with 8V92TA-13sp.@ 40t ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-g-BnwyBK5Hk.html NZ farmers block been logged,@57ton gross. ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-jak7pX6qCiU.html
I build trusses for a living. Its dope to see how our lumber gets to us. Wo t lie tho, my bosses would reject them 2x4s lol. All good though. Its just wood
@@Twangg1 very different than when I pulled green chain if this is the one right before you get into town there was 3 mills around there and I also pulled at Herbert lumber which was a dream job best pay and lot slower
They said this is erins mill. I put good upgrades in the mid 80s that took years to happen while other people then controlled it. Then it was like she wont put upgrades in, i said their arent anymore fucking trees.
this is a sawmill , if you notice at the end of the vid , the smaller boards are strip piled from the stacker , those will be run through a dry kiln before being processed in a planer mill ........... the other larger pieces are off to someplace else , possible to be cut down , then dried .
DRJohnson ..... hmmm .... yeah, I used to work for that tight son of a bitch. That Praire City stud mill with the CoGen plant, was one sweet setup. Then, his planer burned down. We tried to drag hose over there from the sawmill, but by that time, the whole end of the building where the planer was at was on fire. I grabbed a forklift and moved units stacked in back of the building away so they wouldn't burn. By the time I was done I had to leave several as they were already on fire so much so I could get near them with the forklift. The fire dept arrived finally and firemen ran for the building carrying fat hoses. They ran in the front of the place where the sorting chain, and packaging area was, intending to head the fire off from the enclosed planer. However at about halfway in, the fine powder that had accumulated in the building ignited exploded, and so they ran back out. It was pretty spectacular from there on out what with the oxyacetaline cans exploding and a horrendous fire which leveled the place. There was never a single water hose installed at the planer shed ..... anyways, thanks for the presentation, it was excellent.
I see lots of wasted linear motion and rotary equipment sitting idle for long stretches. Something tells me operating efficiency is not of paramount importance at this mill.
Idk how much they produce. Baillie lumber in ny has 2 headsaws and 2 resaws and makes about 9000 an hour. Used to work there and left for a different job. Regretted it ever since
You just like to play safety Nazi. Hats are not required where there is no overhead danger. Cut off saws not required to be guarded if inaccessible to humans. Safety glasses not required if not danger of flying debris. Learn before running your mouth.
@@nitetrane98 Excellent points... I am amazed that so many people who have never been there scream the loudest.. in fact, OSHA about LIVES in and around mills
Use your head, Jon. Every farmer has to replant his crop after he harvests it, if he expects to stay in business. All these machines, all the engineering, all the buildings, cost this company millions. Nobody would invest all that money and time in a sawmill if they didn't have a steady, long-term, reliable source of suitable logs.
@Joe Blow well yes it looks bad if you cut clean a large area of forest in 1 year. but if you plant new trees ore let a few of the old ones stay an seed a few years it will grow back.. and a young forest is way better for the enviroment than a 1000 year old forest where a big part of the trees are old sick ore lie down rotting away! Here in norway we have wildlife-nature parks where you cant cut down trees ore build roads and so on... but most of those that owns forests tend to it and cycle thru them every 40-80 years. but they also check the forest almost every year,, to thin out the forest if say 2 trees are planted to close to eachother + they remove sick-twisted trees,, and also unwanted trees and so on.. THERE ISNT ROOM FOR SAY BIRCH TREES IF YOU ARE A CRISTMAS TREE FARMER. EVEN IF I LOVE BIRCH and oak that i sell as firewood. hehe
A blind grader for home depot. Just read China plywood is shipped thru Vietnam first. Trump NAFTA 2 has it settled softwood lumber subsidies of no stoppage paid by Canadian sawmill of 19%.
